These figures are taken from F1Fanatic, based on the 2008 season.

 The opening round of 2008 drew just shy of 400 million viewers, if EVERYONE (nevermind the average is around 3 million) in the UK watched F1 (60,000,000) and suddenly stopped watching to "boycott" F1, that would still be 340 million people and a hell of a lot of money for Bernie and CVC.

Judging by those figures, is the UK really that important to F1?

 Source for figures: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2008/10/06/uk-f1-tv-figures-up-by-half-a-million/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom 

Yes no BGP would be very bad for F1.  Viewing figures alone is not the measuring stick in this equation. The UK is a wealthy nation which although you point out doesn't mean a lot it still means loss of revenue for F1 with no BGP. UK companies are major sponsors of F1 and with a disgruntled UK public possibly turning off in droves it may make them thing about investing in F1. But more importantly F1 has very very deep roots within the UK the most influential people involved in the sport all hail from the UK in fact the very lifeline that feeds F1 is dependant on a strong UK contingency and removing that from the equation will lessen F1.  Having no BGP will not inspire new people into the sport, other sports have fallen in popularity by not having a British presence and if no new blood, engineering, business and even driving comes because of a lack of a BGP then F1 as an entity suffers.

I'm not suggesting for a minute that the UK is the be all and end all of F1 but you have to admit it has played a major role in its history and it wouldn't be the sport/spectacle it is today without the UK.

In my opinion it would affect the tracks more than us.

 Id love to goto watch F1, but I wouldnt pay the prices at silverstone. its not worth it and its damn right shabby.

You can go on about the heritage ***, but screw heritage when it means my disabled father can barely get up the *** hills and ramps which are 50 years old and steeper than everest.

Its just a generally poor facility for the fans, and I refuse to contemplate spending 150 basic ticket for that. i was looking forward to donnington, id save an extra hundred EASILY for the pleasure of on site parking that isnt 6 million miles away on a gravel and dust ''field'' with a wheelchair.

So no, I watch it on television, the internet, read about it in magazines and the net. Why would britain miss the GP? How many of us actually go there and shed the waste of money for the poor facilities just to get a glimpse of the car and then watch it on a badly shown projected screen on the other side of the track which is barely legible in Rain or bright sun.

 I love going to the world series, even though it still has the complete and utter pains, but being free means youd expect that.

So no, it wouldnt be bad for F1, 90% of us watch it on TV anyway, the 10% who moan, i bet 2% only go and watch GP's.

i for one, would preferable goto bahrain, Sakhir or Spa. My favourite tracks that id like to goto myself one day.

mikhailv:

In my opinion it would affect the tracks more than us.

 Id love to goto watch F1, but I wouldnt pay the prices at silverstone. its not worth it and its damn right shabby.

You can go on about the heritage ***, but screw heritage when it means my disabled father can barely get up the *** hills and ramps which are 50 years old and steeper than everest.

Its just a generally poor facility for the fans, and I refuse to contemplate spending 150 basic ticket for that. i was looking forward to donnington, id save an extra hundred EASILY for the pleasure of on site parking that isnt 6 million miles away on a gravel and dust ''field'' with a wheelchair.

So no, I watch it on television, the internet, read about it in magazines and the net. Why would britain miss the GP? How many of us actually go there and shed the waste of money for the poor facilities just to get a glimpse of the car and then watch it on a badly shown projected screen on the other side of the track which is barely legible in Rain or bright sun.

 I love going to the world series, even though it still has the complete and utter pains, but being free means youd expect that.

So no, it wouldnt be bad for F1, 90% of us watch it on TV anyway, the 10% who moan, i bet 2% only go and watch GP's.

i for one, would preferable goto bahrain, Sakhir or Spa. My favourite tracks that id like to goto myself one day.

I think it would be bad for F1, there are many thousands of people who enjoy the Silverstone experience every year. It's a traditional circuit, just because it doesn't have the facilities of the Abu Dahbi and Singapore tracks doesn't mean it is any less deserving. You sound just like Bernie himself. By the way, how accurate are your percentages?

The car industry might not be to keen either. I believe that was one of the reasons for wanting to return to a North American venue.

Stevesixty7:

mikhailv:

In my opinion it would affect the tracks more than us.

 Id love to goto watch F1, but I wouldnt pay the prices at silverstone. its not worth it and its damn right shabby.

You can go on about the heritage ***, but screw heritage when it means my disabled father can barely get up the *** hills and ramps which are 50 years old and steeper than everest.

Its just a generally poor facility for the fans, and I refuse to contemplate spending 150 basic ticket for that. i was looking forward to donnington, id save an extra hundred EASILY for the pleasure of on site parking that isnt 6 million miles away on a gravel and dust ''field'' with a wheelchair.

So no, I watch it on television, the internet, read about it in magazines and the net. Why would britain miss the GP? How many of us actually go there and shed the waste of money for the poor facilities just to get a glimpse of the car and then watch it on a badly shown projected screen on the other side of the track which is barely legible in Rain or bright sun.

 I love going to the world series, even though it still has the complete and utter pains, but being free means youd expect that.

So no, it wouldnt be bad for F1, 90% of us watch it on TV anyway, the 10% who moan, i bet 2% only go and watch GP's.

i for one, would preferable goto bahrain, Sakhir or Spa. My favourite tracks that id like to goto myself one day.

I think it would be bad for F1, there are many thousands of people who enjoy the Silverstone experience every year. It's a traditional circuit, just because it doesn't have the facilities of the Abu Dahbi and Singapore tracks doesn't mean it is any less deserving. You sound just like Bernie himself. By the way, how accurate are your percentages?

As acurate as your statement there. I was generalising the fac that most people dont even go. Most watch it on tv. but, ask yourself, over the past 10 years, how many great races have been at silverstone? I can think of 3 races.

We need to stop going on about the #### of heritage. Heritage is the fact that the track is dull, the races arent bad but are mostly boring, its built on an airfield and for godsake it doesnt half show it.

We need silverstone to be rennovated and modernised. Id understand the condition if we had jim clark going round the track, but we've got Hamilton and Alonso- modern drivers, with the most upto date cars and technology which is restricted by 50 year old buildings.

bernies right on this occasion, silverstone shouldnt get the GP unless improvements are made. I say the same about monaco, i find that a chore to watch as an F1 fan, even if it is heritage, im sick of watching the boring same old classic F1 tracks. Spa, hockenheim, Suzuka e.t.c are just as old, and they are fantastically entertaining, which does make up for some of the lack of access for fans to go and watch, but there a damsite better than silverstone.

mikhailv:

As acurate as your statement there. I was generalising the fac that most people dont even go. Most watch it on tv. but, ask yourself, over the past 10 years, how many great races have been at silverstone? I can think of 3 races.

We need to stop going on about the #### of heritage. Heritage is the fact that the track is dull, the races arent bad but are mostly boring, its built on an airfield and for godsake it doesnt half show it.

We need silverstone to be rennovated and modernised. Id understand the condition if we had jim clark going round the track, but we've got Hamilton and Alonso- modern drivers, with the most upto date cars and technology which is restricted by 50 year old buildings.

bernies right on this occasion, silverstone shouldnt get the GP unless improvements are made. I say the same about monaco, i find that a chore to watch as an F1 fan, even if it is heritage, im sick of watching the boring same old classic F1 tracks. Spa, hockenheim, Suzuka e.t.c are just as old, and they are fantastically entertaining, which does make up for some of the lack of access for fans to go and watch, but there a damsite better than silverstone.

I'm sure as in the words of Damon Hill they also want vast improvements to the facilities at Silverstone, but that kind of investment only comes on the back of a secure business model and commitment from businesses looking to provide their product long term.  It doesn't make financial sense that they should invest 10's of millions of pounds to improving the facilities when you have a double dealing weasel like BE who could take the BGP away whenever he feels like he wants more money for FOM.  They should just sit down and commit to each other, that way BRDC/Silverstone can innitiate the phased development schedule for improving facilities secure in the knowledge that whatever investors they have will not be left high and dry as has recently happened at Donington.

Hell BE should buy into the course itself and with his money bring it up to scratch, he claims patriotism but none shows.  The only reason I can think he doesn't do that is that the offer on the table from CVC isn't all it's cracked up to be. 

I'd rather have no British GP than it going to Donnington cause I don't want that track representing the best we can do compared to all these new tracks. That said Silverstone really needs updating if it is to carry on an it's a shame the goverment was willing to invest in the Dome which was like 700 million and pour money down the drain with the Olympics, which has left each town in debt that has hosted it. Yet they wont put the money into rescuing our F1 race by updating or even creating a new track.

 I would love a London race but it would never happen because British people like to moan where as everyother country would be proud we'd probably all boycott the F1 lol. I would also like Silverstone updated with new stands and a new paddock and maybe changing the track layout abit and resurfacing it. Went to Sivlerstone awhile back and it was just horribly dated with the worst food ever and just looked like it was falling apart.

That said though I don't go to the F1 cause it's better to watch it on TV so I don't care too much if it's here or not.

moomoo:

I'd rather have no British GP than it going to Donnington cause I don't want that track representing the best we can do compared to all these new tracks. That said Silverstone really needs updating if it is to carry on an it's a shame the goverment was willing to invest in the Dome which was like 700 million and pour money down the drain with the Olympics, which has left each town in debt that has hosted it. Yet they wont put the money into rescuing our F1 race by updating or even creating a new track.

 I would love a London race but it would never happen because British people like to moan where as everyother country would be proud we'd probably all boycott the F1 lol. I would also like Silverstone updated with new stands and a new paddock and maybe changing the track layout abit and resurfacing it. Went to Sivlerstone awhile back and it was just horribly dated with the worst food ever and just looked like it was falling apart.

That said though I don't go to the F1 cause it's better to watch it on TV so I don't care too much if it's here or not.

I really dont see what is wrong with Donnington. The new track layout seemed pretty good. I'm quite dissapointed that they did not manage to pull it off. I agree with the comments about the government not stumping up some money. Maybe an MP could declare Silverstone as a second home. I bet it would get improved then!

mikhailv:

So no, it wouldnt be bad for F1, 90% of us watch it on TV anyway, the 10% who moan, i bet 2% only go and watch GP's.

I've been to Grand Prixs and I've seen people dressed head to toe in merchandising and sponsor's gear. That 2% you speak of are probably responsible for 50% of F1's income.

disappointed:

mikhailv:

So no, it wouldnt be bad for F1, 90% of us watch it on TV anyway, the 10% who moan, i bet 2% only go and watch GP's.

I've been to Grand Prixs and I've seen people dressed head to toe in merchandising and sponsor's gear. That 2% you speak of are probably responsible for 50% of F1's income.

I would think the vast majority of the money in F1 comes from sponsorship. The sponsors are interested in the 400 million TV audiences far more that the 100,000 or so that actually go to an event. So I am sorry but I think you will find that it is the people sitting at home on a Sunday in front of the goggle box that are responsible for F1's income.

You could pack out every circuit but if it was not shown on TV then the sponsors would pull out and F1 would cease to exist as we know it.

I am with mikhailv on this one.

Silverstone is a poor show for the money.  Would F1 loose on removing Grand Prix from Silverstone ? Of course not. British sport would loose, but F1 would be fine. How many tracks there was in history on and off the program ? Did F1 ever suffered from it ?

We can all go about heritage, patriotism and great british sport but thats even more bad news that all we can propose in Britain to fans  is that elusive virtues instead of more decent toilets, propper catering and parking.

it took me two hours to get to Silverstone from motorway, on A BIKE ! If I didn't have friends there I would have to leave bike on the grass field and have piece of wood with me just to prevent bike from falling in case of rain ! Hellooo !

 If I had standard ticket my wife would spent half of the race in the toilet cue .

The atmosfere there last GP was claimed by everyone on TV , as electryfying and great. I can only say that I didn't feel any of it and it was all big nose to show Bernie how great Silverstone is. Unfortunatelly it felt fake. It was dull.

Silverstone fell victim of todays Britain. Overprised in every field, not able to provide anything decent without running in millions of debt.

Lets hopre they can sort it without charging us a piece of gold.

I for one wouldn't miss Silverstone.

monial:

I am with mikhailv on this one.

Silverstone is a poor show for the money.  Would F1 loose on removing Grand Prix from Silverstone ? Of course not. British sport would loose, but F1 would be fine. How many tracks there was in history on and off the program ? Did F1 ever suffered from it ?

We can all go about heritage, patriotism and great british sport but thats even more bad news that all we can propose in Britain to fans  is that elusive virtues instead of more decent toilets, propper catering and parking.

it took me two hours to get to Silverstone from motorway, on A BIKE ! If I didn't have friends there I would have to leave bike on the grass field and have piece of wood with me just to prevent bike from falling in case of rain ! Hellooo !

 If I had standard ticket my wife would spent half of the race in the toilet cue .

The atmosfere there last GP was claimed by everyone on TV , as electryfying and great. I can only say that I didn't feel any of it and it was all big nose to show Bernie how great Silverstone is. Unfortunatelly it felt fake. It was dull.

Silverstone fell victim of todays Britain. Overprised in every field, not able to provide anything decent without running in millions of debt.

Lets hopre they can sort it without charging us a piece of gold.

can't disagree with anything here!

The nightmare scenario is more circuits like Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Valencia......a case of style over substance in aevery instance! look at today.......F1 in a disco!

I guess the situation that we find our sport in is that the older circuits that have originated and matured in counties that have a motorsport heritage  have suffered over the years from a lck of investment...and now cash rich counties that appear to view F1 as an event with which to promote tourism have come to the fore...no motorsport heritage or tradition...just business!

Another drawback for Silverstone is it's location. There is nothing there. No big town to have an interest in promoting, no tourist attractions, there is nothing. Apart from F1 nothing big happenson Silverstone. Of course thare are plenty of other races but its all a bit like club series behind the walls.  Track itself is arguably quite boring.

F1 is TV sport, Without flashy colours, glamour and great spectacle its pointless. Fans and might like it but unfortunatelly money come from TV and advertising and F1 needs money.